When you hear a great song, you can think of where you were when you first heard it, the sounds, the smells. It takes the emotions of a moment and holds it for years to come. It transcends time. A great song has all the key elements — melody; emotion; a strong statement that becomes part of the lexicon; and great production. Think of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” by Queen. That song had everything — different melodies, opera, R&B, rock — and it explored all of those different genres in an authentic way, where it felt natural.

When I’m writing a song that I know is going to work, it’s a feeling of euphoria. It’s how a basketball player must feel when he starts hitting every shot, when you’re in that zone. As soon as you start, you get that magic feeling, an extra feeling. Songs like that come out in five minutes; if I work on them more than, say, 20 minutes, they’re probably not going to work.

Jimmy Cliff, ‘The Harder They Come’

Writer: CliffProducer: CliffReleased: March '75, MangoDid not chart

Before this song, Cliff had already won acclaim: Bob Dylan lauded his 1969 single "Vietnam" as "the best protest song ever written." But Cliff became an international star with this gospel tale of eternal rebellion, expressly written for the movie of the same name, in which he played Ivan Martin, a young man who comes to Kingston, Jamaica, to make his way as a musician.

The Supremes, ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’

The stuttering guitar sounds like an SOS, and the distress call only gets louder in Diana Ross’ vocals. HDH had wanted to write a rock song for the Supremes; in 1968, Vanilla Fudge scored with a Top 10 cover.

Paul McCartney, ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’

"Maybe I’m Amazed" first appeared on McCartney, which Paul made single-handedly (Linda helped with the harmonies) as the Beatles were dissolving. McCartney dedicated it to "me and Linda with the Beatles breaking up. Maybe I’m amazed at what’s going on, maybe I’m not." The song’s biggest success came in 1977, when a live version from Wings Over America went to the Top 10.

Aerosmith, ‘Walk This Way’

The inspiration? A Mel Brooks gag from Young Frankenstein. When they saw the film on a late-night break from recording, they laughed so hard that Tyler wrote the lyrics the next day — then left them in the back seat of a cab and had to rewrite them in the stairwell of the studio. Perry fashioned the funky riff in the style of the New Orleans band the Meters so that, as he said, “we don’t have to cover James Brown.”

U2, ‘Beautiful Day’

The song that re-established U2 as the world’s biggest band almost never saw the light of day: U2 felt the tune — a prayer for transcendence with lyrics inspired by Bono’s work with Jubilee 2000, a group advocating debt relief for poor nations — sounded too much like the band’s Eighties work. "If we’re just chucking it out because it reminds us of U2, that’s not very good," said the Edge.

Michael Jackson, ‘Beat It’

"I wanted to write the type of rock song that I would go out and buy," said Jackson, "but also something totally different from the rock music I was hearing on Top 40 radio." The result was a throbbing dance single with a fingers-flying guitar solo provided by Eddie Van Halen. "I’m not gonna sit here and tell you what to play," Jones instructed Van Halen. "The reason you’re here is because of what you do play."

The Rolling Stones, ‘Wild Horses’

Richards wrote this acoustic ballad about leaving his wife, Anita, and young son Marlon as the Stones prepared for their first American tour in three years. Stones sidekick Ian Stewart refused to play the minor chords required, so Memphis musical maverick Jim Dickinson filled in on upright piano at the Muscle Shoals, Alabama, recording session. Jagger’s ex-wife Jerry Hall calls it her favorite Stones song.

The Velvet Underground, ‘Sweet Jane’

After Reed quit the band, a wistful coda was chopped out of this song. "How could anyone be that stupid?" Reed asked RS in 1987. "If I could have stood it, I would have stayed with them and showed them what to do." For years, the only available version of the coda was on the 1969 live LP, but the full "Jane" appears on recent reissues.

Norman Greenbaum, ‘Spirit in the Sky’

"I’m just some Jewish musician who really dug gospel music," Greenbaum said. "I decided there was a larger Jesus gospel market out there than a Jehovah one." The crunchy guitar sound came when a friend built a small fuzzbox right into the body of Greenbaum’s Fender Telecaster.

Bob Dylan, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’

"It’s from Chuck Berry, a bit of 'Too Much Monkey Business' and some of the scat songs of the Forties," Dylan said. John Lennon once said of the track that it was so captivating it made him wonder how he could ever compete.

Bonnie Raitt, ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’

Raitt was a Seventies blues prodigy who didn’t break through until 1989’s Nick of Time. Two years later came this clear eyed song about love gone cold. Co-author Reid was a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals before heading off to Nashville. "Of all the songs in my career, that one is the greatest gift," Raitt said. "I think it stands among the best songs ever written."

Queen, ‘We Will Rock You’

In 1977, Sid Vicious wandered into the wrong recording studio and ran into Freddie Mercury sitting at his piano. "Still bringing ballet to the masses, are you?" snarked Sid. "Oh, yes, Mr. Ferocious, dear," Freddie replied. "We are doing our best." Queen soon one-upped the punks with this foot-stomping, conquering-army smash, the B side of "We Are the Champions."

Earth, Wind and Fire, ‘Way of the World’

"Way of the World" was the title song of a little-seen movie starring Harvey Keitel as an idealistic label exec and EWF as the band he wants to produce, rather than white-bread pop acts. The movie was rereleased as Shining Star in 1977, and it flopped again. The song, however, was a Top Five R&B hit in 1975.

The Doors, ‘The End’

Morrison had worked on a student production of Oedipus Rex at Florida State. But his exploration of its sexual taboos took on bold new life in the 11 minutes of "The End," which evolved during the Doors' live shows at L.A.’s Whisky-A-Go-Go. "Every time I hear that song, it means something else to me," Morrison said in 1969. "It could be goodbye to a kind of childhood."

Jerry Butler and The Impressions, ‘For Your Precious Love’

The spiritual tenor of the vocals came from the Impressions' church roots; Butler and Curtis Mayfield had sung together in the Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers. The lyrics were drawn verbatim from a poem Butler had written in high school. The single’s credit — "Jerry Butler and the Impressions" — caused friction in the group, which Butler soon left.

The Young Rascals, ‘Good Lovin”

A soulful New York bar band, the Rascals tried to replicate their jacked-up live rendition of the Olympics' "Good Lovin'" in the studio. "We weren’t too pleased with our performance," singer Felix Cavaliere admitted. "It was a shock to us when it went to the top of the charts."

The Supremes, ‘Baby Love’

Diana Ross wasn’t the strongest vocalist in the Supremes, but as the Motown production team discovered, when she sang in a lower register, her voice worked its sultry magic. When this song was finished, Berry Gordy thought it wasn’t catchy enough and sent the group back into the studio. The result: the smoky "Oooooh" right at the start.

Patti Smith Group, ‘Dancing Barefoot’

Smith started as a poet and Rolling Stone writer before finding fame as a New York punk priestess. "Dancing Barefoot" is her mystical ode to sexual rapture. "I think sex is one of the five highest sensations one can experience," she said in 1978. "A very high orgasm is a way of communion with our creator." She added that she masturbated to her own album-cover photo, as well as to the Bible.

Public Enemy, ‘Fight the Power’

The opening credits of Spike Lee’s 1989 Do the Right Thing feature a masterpiece from the Bomb Squad production team: a dissonant call to revolution, with a title borrowed from an Isley Brothers funk hit and a groove lifted from the 1972 B side "Hot Pants Road" by the J.B.’s. Public Enemy direct their rage at Elvis Presley, John Wayne and, er, Bobby McFerrin.

Neil Young, ‘Cortez the Killer’

"It’s weird," Young mused to Rolling Stone in 1975. "I’ve got all these songs about Peru, the Aztecs and the Incas. Time travel stuff." Over a slow, rambling Crazy Horse guitar jam, he mourns the Aztec civilization destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. The song ends after seven and a half minutes, onlybecause a circuit blew on the recording console. The band went on for another verse.

Led Zeppelin, ‘Heartbreaker’

"Heartbreaker," like much of Led Zeppelin II, was recorded hit-and-run style on Zep’s 1969 American tour. The awesome swagger captures the debauched mood of the band’s wild early days in L.A. "Nineteen years old and never been kissed," Plant recalled in 1975. "I remember it well. It’s been a long time. Nowadays we’re more into staying in our room and reading Nietzsche."

Alice Cooper, ‘School’s Out’

"The few minutes waiting for that final school bell to ring are so intense that when it happens, it’s almost orgasmic," said Cooper. Inspiredby a Forties Dead End Kids film series, the tune will live for as long as kids really, really hate school.

Jimmy Cliff, ‘Many Rivers to Cross’

Writer: CliffProducer: CliffReleased: Dec. '69, A&MDid not chart

When Jamaican filmmaker Percy Henzell heard "Many Rivers to Cross," a ballad Jimmy Cliff wrote in 1969, he ordered Cliff the lead in his film The Harder They Come. The song, a hymn about struggle and perseverance, summed up the outlaw mood of early reggae. On the strength of his songs and acting in the film,Cliff became one of reggae’s first international stars.

Pink Floyd, ‘Wish You Were Here’

While Pink Floyd were recording this elegy for burned-out ex-frontman Syd Barrett, he mysteriously appeared in the studio in such bad shape that, at first, nobody in the band recognized him. "He stood up and said, 'Right, when do I put my guitar on?'" keyboardist Rick Wright recalled. "And of course, he didn’t have a guitar with him. And we said, 'Sorry, Syd, the guitar’s all done.'"

Elvis Costello, ‘Alison’

Some people think "Alison" is a murder ballad. "It isn’t," Costello told Rolling Stone in 2002. "It’s about disappointing somebody. It’s a thin line between love and hate, as the Persuaders sang." Costello’s backup band was Huey Lewis' outfit Clover; Lewis himself didn’t play on the album, presumably because Costello didn’t need any harmonica players.

The Animals, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’

The Animals’ reworking of this song radically departed from Nina Simone’s orchestrated down-tempo original version, recorded the year before. "It was never considered pop material, but it somehow got passed on to us and we fell in love with it," recalled Eric Burdon. Burdon would sometimes perform a slow, Simone-like rendition live.

Pink Floyd, ‘Comfortably Numb’

Roger Waters based one of the saddest drug songs ever written on a sleazy Philadelphia doctor who injected him with tranquilizers before a gig when he was suffering from hepatitis. "That was the longest two hours of my life," Waters said. "Trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm." Arguably the greatest cover of "Numb": Van Morrison’s 1990 version from The Wall: Live in Berlin concert.

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, ‘I Put a Spell on You’

Former boxer Jalacy J. Hawkins got loaded on muscatel before shrieking out the hoodoo of "Spell on You," and it took a healthy swig of J&B for him to re-create his studio performance onstage, where he climbed outof a coffin. The prop was Alan Freed’s brainstorm; when Hawkins resisted, Freed peeled off three $100 bills. "I said, 'Show me the coffin,'" the singer quipped.

Roy Orbison, ‘In Dreams’

Orbison claimed the lyrics came to him in a dream; he wrote the music once he woke up. It was a Top 10 hit in the U.S. but even bigger in England. The track made him so popular that Orbison toured the U.K. with an up and-coming opening act called the Beatles. Roy’s reaction: "I’ve never heard of them." Next, he’d tour Australia with the Rolling Stones.

The Everly Brothers, ‘Wake Up Little Susie’

Though it sounds quaint today, "Wake Up Little Susie," the tale of a teen couple who fall asleep at a drive-in, stirred up controversy in 1957: It was banned in Boston but became the Everlys’ first Number One. In 2000, when candidate George W. Bush was asked by Oprah Winfrey what his favorite song was, he said, "'Wake Up Little Susie,' by Buddy Holly."

Black Sabbath, ‘Iron Man’

When an accident left guitarist Tony Iommi without the tips of two fingers, it seemed like the end of the road for Black Sabbath. But, inspired by the great, handicapped guitarist Django Reinhardt, Iommi fashioned thimbles out of plastic, and developed a heavy playing style that would define metal forever.

Jackie Wilson, ‘Lonely Teardrops’

One of the first hits written by Motown founder Gordy, "Lonely Teardrops" set Wilson’s pleading vocals over Latin rhythms. At a New Jersey casino in September 1975, Wilson collapsed from a heart attack on stage in the middle of singing "Lonely Teardrops" — right at the line "My heart is crying." He sank into a coma and died in 1984.

Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love’

Frankie Lymon was one of rock & roll’s first teen prodigies — and one of its earliest tragedies. Lymon wrote and sang this hit as a 13-year-old Harlem kid. But the writing credit — and money — went to his label boss, Levy, an associate of the Genovese family. Lymon died a penniless heroin addict in 1968 at the age of 25.

The Jam, ‘That’s Entertainment’

Writer: Paul WellerProducers: Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, the JamReleased: Nov. '80, PolydorNon-single in the U.S.

The Jam had a long run of U.K. hits with their mod guitar flash – but they were too defiantly British for U.S. success. The lads hit hardest with this acoustic lament, with Weller brooding over the heartaches of everyday working-class life. His songwriting technique? "Coming home pissed from the pub and writing 'That’s Entertainment' in 10 minutes."

James Brown, ‘Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud’

In 1968, Brown traded his processed 'do for an Afro and started writing songs like this anthem. The real stars are Clyde Stubblefield on drums and the L.A. kids — mostly white and Asian-American — yelling, "I’mblack and I’m proud."

The Rolling Stones, ‘Ruby Tuesday’

At a session for Between the Buttons in November 1966, Richards drew this lyrical sketch of Linda Keith, his first serious girlfriend, and turned it into an uncharacteristically wistful ballad. Brian Jones played the recorder on the track, giving the song a madrigal feel. The countermelody was played by Bill Wyman, who fingered the strings on a cello while Richards bowed them.

Willie Nelson, ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’

Nelson had gotten his start writing hits like "Crazy" for Patsy Cline, but his own breakthrough was a cover of an old country standard written by Rose in 1945 and originally recorded by Roy Acuff. Delivered with Nelson’s jazz-singer phrasing, it’s the beating heart of Red Headed Stranger, his 1975 concept album about love and death in the Old West.

Rod Stewart, ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’

In that rock-disco moment that also yielded the Stones' "Miss You," Stewart's entry was a tale of lust at first sight with an irresistible hook. But that hook actually wasn’t by Stewart and Appice. It came from "Taj Mahal," by the Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben. After Ben won a plagiarism lawsuit, royalties for the song went to UNICEF.

Daft Punk, ‘One More Time’

Some critics panned the use of a vocoder on this dance-floor epiphany, a tribute to '70s disco. But "One More Time" kicked off the Auto-Tune revolution that would dominate pop in the 2000s. "The healthy thing is that people either loved it or hated it,"said Daft Punk’s Bangalter. "The worst thing is when you make art and people are not moved."

Madonna, ‘Like A Prayer’

In a voice full of Catholic angst and disco thunder, Madonna turned 30 and closed the book on her first marriage. "I didn’t have the censors on me in terms of emotions or music," Madonna said. "I did take a lot more chances with this one, but obviously success gives you the confidence to do those things." The obligatory controversial video featured burning crosses, black lingerie and masturbation in church.

Blondie, ‘One Way or Another’

Blondie were already stars in Europe, but they didn’t blow up here until their hit-packed third disc. "One Way" was Harry’s ode to obsessive lust, mixing the girl-group sound with the attack of the Ramones.

Prince, ‘Sign ‘O’ The Times’

When Prince broke with his longtime group the Revolution, he aborted an ambitious, 18-song project called Dream Factory. One of the songs from those sessions served as the title track for Sign 'O' the Times. A stark socio-political talking blues written by Prince using the pre-programmed sounds on his synth, it brought Sly Stone-like realism to Eighties pop radio.

Neil Young, ‘Heart of Gold’

Before he started Harvest, in 1971, Young suffered a slipped disc and spent two years in and out of hospitals: "I couldn’t physically play an electric guitar," he told Rolling Stone. So he cut a collection of mellow tracks while he was in Nashville to appearon Johnny Cash’s variety show, with a crew of local session players. The yearning "Heart of Gold" is Young’s only Number One hit.

Bob Marley and the Wailers, ‘Get Up, Stand Up’

The song’s chorus ("Stand up for your right . . ./Don’t give up the fight") sounds like a political anthem, which is how Amnesty International still employs it at rallies. But the lyrics are actually rooted in Rastafarian theology, about not being pacified by promises of the afterlife. The Wailers, of course, were far from placated, especially Tosh, who sings the fire-breathing final verse.

The Rolling Stones, ‘Street Fighting Man’

The Stones' most political song came about after Jagger went to a March 1968 anti-war rally at London's U.S. embassy, with mounted police wading into a crowd of 25,000. The distorted drone was built on acoustic guitars pumped through a mono cassette recorder.